James Pini, the petitioner in the Dei Open seat, will be seeking leave in the Supreme Court to review the dismissal of his petition in the National Court, challenging Wesley Nukundj’s win as Dei Open MP.
The petition was dismissed on May 28 after trial.
Justice Collin Makail dismissed the petition earlier because the petitioner, Pini, failed to establish that polling was compromised by the setting aside of six ballot boxes.
He has since filed a review in the Supreme Court.
An application seeking leave to review the dismissal will be heard in the Supreme Court on 9 July at 3pm.
Another Supreme Court review arising from an election petition that went for directions today before Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia was the North Fly petition.
A hearing date was set today for August 29.
The full court will hear an application by Paio Bale, who will be asking the court to dismiss the review on grounds of non-compliance to earlier orders of the court.
The court will also hear the substantive review filed by James Donald over the National Court’s decision of February 9 ordering a recount of ballot boxes.
On March 23, the Supreme Court granted leave to review the National Court’s decision that nullified Donald’s election victory.
The MP filed an application seeking to stay the orders of February 9 that were delivered in Kiunga by the National Court following a trial.
On March 28, a three-man Supreme Court bench was satisfied Donald demonstrated that a stay on the recount was necessary.
The petition went to trial and was upheld on grounds that Nomad LLG is under the Middle Fly Electorate, and ballot boxes from that area should not have been admitted into scrutiny.